Finnish-Russian border visible from space near Paanajarvi National Park

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One of the largest intact forest landscapes in Russian Karelia, next to Lake Paanajärvi (narrow east-west directed lake at the center of the image). The western boundary of the intact forest landscape is visible as a straight line on the image and indicates the national border between Russia and Finland. While vast old-growth forests (dark green) have survived on the Russian side, the majority of the Finnish side is covered by relatively young pine-dominated forests (lighter greens). On the Finnish side some old-growth forests are preserved within the Oulanka National Park (dark green belts along the Oulanka and Kitka Rivers in the west-central part of the image). The southern part of the intact forest landscape on the Russian side is protected within the Paanajarvi National Park. However the bigger, northern part of the landscape is still unprotected and threatened by logging. Clear-cuts destroying the intact forests are visible on the eastern side of the landscape.